A variety of different types of valves are known in the art and are generally used for the purpose of controlling the flow of a gas and/or fluid within a particular gas or fluid flow or transport system. One type of such known valves is a poppet valve that comprises a valve body having one or more fluid inlets and fluid outlets, a valve seat disposed within the body, and a movable poppet member disposed within the body. Fluid flow through the valve is affected by the placement position of the poppet member within the valve body relative to the valve seat.
For example, the poppet valve may be configured such that fluid flow through the valve body is effected by moving the poppet member from a closed position, where a portion of the poppet member is positioned or seated against the valve seat, to an open position, where the poppet member is moved relative to the valve seat to become unseated to thereby permit the flow of fluid through the valve. Poppet valves can be configured differently to address different system flow requirements, e.g., in an example embodiment fluid flow through a valve may instead occur when the poppet member is seated against the valve seat.
Poppet members known in the art are constructed having a head portion and a leg portion. Some poppet members are formed as one-piece via forging, casting, or machining. Sometimes, the head portion is machined from a forging while the leg portion is cast. When formed as a two-piece member, the poppet member portions may be joined together using conventional welding methodologies, e.g, stick, MIG, or inertial welding. However, these conventional welding methodologies may have increased cost and have concentricity issues between poppet member portions, thereby causing misalignment during operation in a valve.